Creating a Successful Customer Loyalty Program

Big companies have been spending millions of dollars on customer loyalty programs for years, but you don’t need to be a big enterprise to offer great perks. Smaller businesses and start-ups are making use of modern tech – think smartphones, tablets and cloud computing – to deploy successful programs.

Here are 5 ways to successfully create your own loyalty offerings.

1. Structure Rewards Carefully

Try to obtain a balance between creating attainable rewards for your customers and designing a worthwhile program for your company. Two good examples include wanting customers to make a certain number of visits or spending a certain amount of money.

2. Get Creative

Rewards don’t have to cost you an absolute fortune, but they do need to be appealing enough to offer motivation to customers.

3. Promote Your Customer Loyalty Program

Make sure your employees are familiar with the way the loyalty system works and teach them to bring it up with customers. Remember to advertise the program in your emails and on all your social networks as well.

4. Make it a Game

A lot of businesses turn the task of earning points into a competition or game. Take for example Mr. Green Bubble, a tea store in California; the company placed a whiteboard near the check out counter that serves as a “top of the points” board for customers who have the most points.

This is a fun exercise for people who tend to thrive on rivalry. Dedicated customers enjoy regularly visiting places to become the establishment’s foursquare mayor, for instance.

5. Keep Customer Loyalty Endeavors Enticing

Be sure to update your customer loyalty specials and rewards frequently to keep customers engaged and coming back. For instance, you could offer bonus points for people who refer their friends to your store or business for one month. Another time you could offer twice the amount of points for those who punt your business on their social media profiles and networks.

To learn more about how to leverage the right technology to build customer loyalty, download the SAP Business One for Retail brochure.